LIKE so many of us, I have deep concerns for the preservation of our environment. For how we can balance all the elements to ensure that our basic needs are met – food, shelter, clean drinking water, fresh air. I want it all. But what to do when it appears that the two ideals – protection of the land and advancement of the people, are at odds? Where do we go from there? It doesn’t help if both sides are intractable. “My way is the only way.” There are some things for which compromise is ruled out even before the dialogue begins. We know that there are hard choices to be made, but can we make them for mutual benefit?
An ugly little spat has sprung up between the government and leading environmentalists over the announced intention to permit the use of so-called “clean coal” in bauxite-processing operations. Environmentalists responded immediately and sharply to the announcement